Atrocious Alcohol

You can probably tell from the title that I personally believe alcohol is a Health Villain. Read the list of the few Pros and many Cons that come along with drinking alcoholic beverages and decide for yourself how you feel about putting alcohol, a fermentation product of carbohydrates, into your body.

Cons

Empty Calories! Alcohol has 7 calories per gram (4 in protein and carbs, 9 in fat) and absolutely no nutrients! So basically you are drinking completely worthless calories. Empty calories=weight gain; Not so rockin’.

Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, liver cirrhosis, and some forms of cancer. The line between moderate and excessive is pretty thin in my opinion and totally debatable, so really any alcohol consumption can increase your risk for the above mentioned issues.

Alcohol wreaks havoc on your digestive system. It raises the level of hydrochloric acid in your stomach and places a huge strain on your liver. Plus because it doesn’t actually get broken down in digestion it goes right into your blood stream, through to your cells and can actually depress cell activity.

At best harmless, at worst toxic. Some alcohol contains urethane, a cancer causing chemical. Also, your liver turns alcohol into acetaldehyde which is toxic. You want that in your body, really?

Alcohol consumption may actually block the absorption of nutrients. So not only do you get no nutrients from what you are consuming, you actually lose out on the ones you should have gotten from your other foods.

Some alcohol, most likely organic red wine, can offset some harmful effects of a high fat diet. We think this is possible because of the French who consume a diet pretty high in saturated fat but have lower levels of cardiovascular disease. Keep in mind that this is probably due to the antioxidants in red wine. More on red wine at a later date!

Oh wait, that’s it.

What’d ya think? Can we all come to a consensus that Alcohol is most certainly a Health Villain?

I recommend avoiding alcohol as much as you possibly can. If you are going to drink, drink red wine, organic when possible. Leave the beer and vodka for the frat boys, they’ll learn eventually too!

Advertisements

Like this:

2 responses to “Atrocious Alcohol”

As I get older I become more tolerant and flexible in my enjoyment of life – didn’t drink for 25 years but recently have really enjoyed a nice glass of red wine 3- 4 times a week – it has opened up a lot of interesting information on the types of wine to experience and the whole process of wine. I understand that your post centers on excessive drinking but it seems it is just another slightly sanctimonious “rant” that puts another stamp on “things you shouldn’t do”- Incidentally I am a mostly vegetarian , daily yoga practicer who meditates and still seems to enjoy life and it’s pleasures without beating myself up about it> Take are and respond if you wish. Looking forward to any comments. K

Kevin, I totally agree with you. I drink wine on occasion. Im also eat mostly raw but just had a bite of cupcake. See my website rawpunkadventures.wordpress.com or rawfoodpunk.com. Life is about living and enjoying whats in front of you, but we should treat our bodies well while were at it.